Recent years have seen the development of improved techniques for pouring cement and concrete mixtures. In many construction trades, large commercial cement preparation companies are employed to premix and ship cement and concrete payloads from plants located some distance away from a construction or work site. In these situations, contractors employ the use of cement trucks for transporting the cement and concrete mixtures from the plant to the construction location. The timely delivery of cement payloads is often foundational to many building projects.
Such cement trucks have evolved into two primary forms. One form of cement truck is known as a rear-dispatch truck. Trucks of this type have a cement mixing bin oriented with its opening to the rear of the truck. The bin is designed to be able to empty its contents through a network of funnels, canals, chutes, or receptacles in order to ultimately deposit the payload in the desired location. In a common scenario, the cement is poured through a sectioned and extensible cement-pouring chute. Such a chute is generally disposed at a declining angle from the opening of the mixing bin, and the cement mixture is poured through it with the aid of gravity. In situations where a rear-dispatch truck is used to pour large slabs covering large, substantially horizontal areas, the truck is commonly backed up to a remote end or comer of the area to be filled, and the truck is slowly advanced as appropriate amounts of cement are deposited into the desired locations. Cement-pouring chutes affixed to rear-dispatch trucks often have no mechanism for directing or otherwise variably supporting the chute structure. Thus, it is often necessary to either utilize additional manpower for holding or orienting the cement-pouring chute or otherwise employ some support structure for guiding the cement-pouring chute to the appropriate locations.
A second type of cement truck of more recent origin is known as a front-dispatch truck: Such trucks are substantially similar to rear-dispatch trucks, with two notable exceptions. First, the cement-mixing bin is oriented to dispense cement from the front end of the truck. Second, the cement-pouring chute structure on front-dispatch trucks is often provided with hydraulic controls within the cab of the truck. This arrangement provides several benefits. Since the cement truck operator, when seated in the cab of the vehicle, is able to view the work site and control all of the truck's features, he is often able to improve the speed and efficiency of the cement-pouring process by anticipating the appropriate movements and locations for directing the poured cement mixture.
When using either type of truck, it is not uncommon for situations to arise in which, due to the nature of the work site or the particular slab to be poured, cement trucks may be unable to gain sufficient proximity to the area designated for the pour such that the full extended length of the truck is sufficient to spread the cement or concrete to all appropriate locations. In these situations, contractors often affix one or more extensions to the concrete-pouring chutes provided in the front-dispatch truck's design. In these cases, due to the weight of the wet cement traversing the chute and extensions, additional support is often needed along the span of the cement-pouring chute and extensions. Work site contractors often use conventional devices such as sawhorses to provide such support. Unfortunately, the use of sawhorses or other stationary supports negates the benefits inherent in the maneuverability of the front-dispatch truck design. In these situations, it is often necessary to interrupt the pour, clean and relocate the cement-pouring chute and extensions, and begin pouring again in a new location. Such cycling invariably extends the length of time required to complete the pouring operation. Similarly, when rear-dispatch trucks are used, additional chute support is often desirable.
It would be desirable to have a device capable of providing a rollable support to a cement-pouring chute or cement-pouring chute extension that would allow the maneuverability of an extended cement-pouring chute arrangement without interrupting the pour.